Wipe and manufacturing method thereof

ABSTRACT

A wipe comprises upper and lower melt-blown fiber webs and an intermediate wood pulp fiber web containing a hot-melt adhesive substance. Melt-blown fibers of the melt-blown fiber webs are interwoven in the wood pulp fiber web. A manufacturing method of a wipe can manufacture a water-absorbing wipe, effectively prevent the wipe from shedding fibers when in use, and effectively prevent agglomeration of short wood pulp fibers after the wipe has absorbed a liquid.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a wipe, and more particularly to a wipe for personal hygiene and baby care, which can prevent the wipe from shedding fibers and agglomeration. A manufacturing method for the wipe is also disclosed.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Since wipes are convenient to carry, store and use, they are popular among consumers. Wipes are often used in our daily life when, for example, parents change babies' diapers, people have meals in restaurants, or people do skincare. It can be seen that wipes have increasingly extensive use in particularly personal hygiene and baby care.

A wipe may be a spunlace non-woven product or spunbond non-woven product. Compared with a conventional cloth wipe, its manufacturing method is easy, the price is low, and the wipe can be used in a dry or wet manner.

Chinese Patent Application No. 93118457.6 discloses a wear-resistant fiber non-woven composite structure. It consists of the following two components: (1) a melt-blown fiber substrate having a first outer surface, a second outer surface and an inner portion, and (2) at least one other fiber material interwoven into the melt-blown fiber substrate. The concentration of melt-blown fibers near each outer surface of the non-woven composite structure is at least about 60% by weight, and the concentration of melt-blown fibers in the inner portion is less than about 40% by weight. This wipe provides sufficient strength and reduces the phenomenon of shedding fibers. The abrasion resistance of this wipe is at least about 25% greater than that of a homogeneous blend of the same grade. The melt-blown layer formed by the melt-blown fibers on the surface of the wipe is denser. In a certain extent, this prevents the interior other fiber materials from falling out when in use. However, the interior other fibers are not adhered to each other. The phenomenon of “shedding fibers” also occurs when in use, and agglomeration may occur when wiping after the wipe has absorbed a liquid. This affects the use effect of the wipe and reduces the service life.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In order to overcome the defects of the conventional product and its manufacturing method, the objective of the present invention is to provide a wipe that can prevent the wipe from shedding fibers and agglomeration and a manufacturing method thereof.

For achieving the foregoing objective, the present invention implements the following technical schemes.

A wipe comprises upper and lower layers of melt-blown fiber webs and an intermediate layer of a wood pulp fiber web that contains a hot-melt adhesive substance, wherein melt-blown fibers of the melt-blown fiber webs are woven into the wood pulp fiber web.

The hot-melt adhesive substance is polyester fibers having a low-melting-point, ES short fibers, two-component spunbond long fibers or a blend thereof. The hot-melt adhesive substance is present in the wood pulp fiber web in an amount of 1-15 g/m².

The hot-melt adhesive substance is present in the wood pulp fiber web in an amount of 2-5 g/m².

The melt-blown fibers are polyolefin fibers, polyester fibers, polyamide fibers, polyurethane fibers, polylactic acid fibers, or a blend thereof A weight percentage of the wood pulp fiber web in the wipe is greater than 50 wt %.

A weight percentage of the wood pulp fiber web in the wipe is 65 wt %-80 wt %.

A manufacturing method for the wipe of claim 1, comprising steps of:

(1) mixing wood pulp that has been opened and scattered by an opening roller with the hot-melt adhesive substance into a mixture, and blowing the mixture using a blowing nozzle in the presence of an auxiliary air stream to form the wood pulp fiber web containing the hot-melt adhesive substance;

(2) performing a melt blowing process involving heating and melting a thermoplastic resin; dispersing melt streams of the thermoplastic resin that have been extruded from spinneret plates into fiber bundles having a diameter of ≤10 μm using a high-temperature, high-speed hot air stream, thereby forming the melt-blown fiber webs in the presence of the hot air stream; and joining the melt-blown fiber webs with two side surfaces of the wood pulp fiber web containing the hot-melt adhesive substance, so as to form a multi-layer fiber web having the melt-blown fiber webs at its two sides and having the wood pulp fiber web containing the hot-melt adhesive substance in its middle; and

(3) binding the fiber webs in the multi-layer fiber web together using a heating device, so as to form the wipe having the upper and lower layers of the melt-blown fiber webs and having the intermediate layer of the wood pulp fiber web containing the hot-melt adhesive substance.

The hot-melt adhesive substance is polyester fibers having a low-melting-point, ES short fibers, two-component spunbond long fibers or a blend thereof.

The heating device is a hot air oven, a hot rolling roller or a combination thereof.

By adopting the aforementioned technical schemes, the present invention provides a wipe made using the manufacturing method. With the hot-melt adhesive substance in the wood pulp fiber web of the intermediate layer of the disclosed wipe, in the manufacturing process, when the multi-layer fiber web passes through the heating device, the surface of the hot-melt adhesive substance will begin to melt in the hot-air environment. When the hot-melt adhesive substance and the fibers are in contact with each other, they will bind together to form an interwoven web structure. Thus, in a certain extent, the wood pulp short fibers of the intermediate layer are retained in the web structure, making it difficult for the wood pulp short fibers to move, so as to effectively prevent the wipe from shedding fibers when in use and to effectively prevent agglomeration of short wood pulp fibers after the wipe has absorbed a liquid.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic drawing illustrating manufacturing of a wipe of the present invention; and

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the wipe of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

For further illustrating the technical schemes of the present invention, the following detailed description of the present invention will be made with reference to particular embodiments

As shown in FIG. 1, the present invention discloses a manufacturing method for a wipe, comprising the following steps:

(1) mixing wood pulp 1 that has been opened and scattered by an opening roller A with a hot-melt adhesive substance 2 into a mixture, and blowing the mixture using a blowing nozzle B in the presence of an auxiliary air stream to form a wood pulp fiber web 3 containing the hot-melt adhesive substance 2. The hot-melt adhesive substance 2 may be polyester fibers having a low-melting-point, ES short fibers, two-component spunbond long fibers or a blend thereof. The blend refers to a blend of two or all of polyester fibers having a low-melting-point, ES short fibers and two-component spunbond long fibers;

(2) performing a melt blowing process involving heating and melting a thermoplastic resin; dispersing melt streams of the thermoplastic resin that have been extruded from spinneret plates C1, C2 into fiber bundles having a diameter of ≤10 μm using a high-temperature, high-speed hot air stream, thereby forming melt-blown fiber webs 4, 5 in the presence of the hot air stream; and joining the melt-blown fiber webs 4, 5 with two side surfaces of the wood pulp fiber web 3 containing the hot-melt adhesive substance 2, so as to form a multi-layer fiber web 6 having the melt-blown fiber webs 4, 5 at its two sides and having the wood pulp fiber web 3 containing the hot-melt adhesive substance 2 in its middle. The melt-blown fibers are polyolefin fibers, polyester fibers, polyamide fibers, polyurethane fibers, polylactic acid fibers, or a blend thereof. The blend refers to a blend of two, three, four or all five of polyolefin fibers, polyester fibers, polyamide fibers, polyurethane fibers, and polylactic acid fibers; and

(3) binding the fiber webs in the multi-layer fiber web 6 together using a hot air oven D and a pair of hot rolling rollers E that engage with each other, so as to form the wipe 7 having the upper and lower layers of melt-blown fiber webs 4, 5 and having the intermediate layer of the wood pulp fiber web 3 containing the hot-melt adhesive substance 2. Wherein, the melt-blown fibers of the melt-blown fiber webs 4, 5 are woven into the wood pulp fiber web 3. A weight percentage of the wood pulp fiber web 3 in the wipe 7 is greater than 50 wt %. Preferably, a weight percentage of the wood pulp fiber web 3 in the wipe 7 is 65 wt %-80 wt %.

As shown in FIG. 2, the present invention further discloses a wipe made using the foregoing manufacturing method. The wipe has a laminated structure. The wipe 7 comprises upper and lower layers of melt-blown fiber webs 4, 5 and an intermediate layer of a wood pulp fiber web 3 containing a hot-melt adhesive substance 2. Melt-blown fibers of the melt-blown fiber webs 4, 5 are woven into the wood pulp fiber web 3. The hot-melt adhesive substance is present in the wood pulp fiber web in an amount of 1-15 g/m². Preferably, the hot-melt adhesive substance is present in the wood pulp fiber web in an amount of 2-5 g/m². In this embodiment, the hot-melt adhesive substance is present in the wood pulp fiber web in an amount of 3 g/m². The hot-melt adhesive substance 2 may be polyester fibers having a low-melting-point, ES short fibers, two-component spunbond long fibers or a blend thereof. The blend refers to a blend of two or all of polyester fibers having a low-melting-point, ES short fibers and two-component spunbond long fibers.

Therefore, the wipe 7 is formed by forming denser melt-blown fiber webs 4, 5 on the upper and lower layers, thereby preventing other interior fiber substances from falling out when in use, and the intermediate layer of the wood pulp fiber web 3 contains the hot-melt adhesive substance 2. In the manufacturing process, when the multi-layer fiber web 6 passes through the hot air oven and/or hot rolling rolls, the surface of the hot-melt adhesive substance 2 will begin to melt in the hot-air environment. When the hot-melt adhesive substance 2 and the fibers are in contact with each other, they will bind together to form an interwoven web structure. Thus, in a certain extent, the wood pulp short fibers of the intermediate layer are retained in the web structure, making it difficult for the wood pulp short fibers to move, so as to effectively prevent the wipe from shedding fibers when in use and to effectively prevent agglomeration of short wood pulp fibers after the wipe 7 has absorbed a liquid. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A wipe, comprising upper and lower layers of melt-blown fiber webs and an intermediate layer of a wood pulp fiber web that contains a hot-melt adhesive substance, wherein melt-blown fibers of the melt-blown fiber webs are woven into the wood pulp fiber web.
 2. The wipe of claim 1, wherein the hot-melt adhesive substance is polyester fibers having a low-melting-point, ES short fibers, two-component spunbond long fibers or a blend thereof.
 3. The wipe of claim 1 or 2, wherein the hot-melt adhesive substance is present in the wood pulp fiber web in an amount of 1-15 g/m².
 4. The wipe of claim 1 or 2, wherein the hot-melt adhesive substance is present in the wood pulp fiber web in an amount of 2-5 g/m².
 5. The wipe of claim 1, wherein the melt-blown fibers are polyolefin fibers, polyester fibers, polyamide fibers, polyurethane fibers, polylactic acid fibers, or a blend thereof.
 6. The wipe of claim 1, wherein a weight percentage of the wood pulp fiber web in the wipe is greater than 50 wt %.
 7. The wipe of claim 1, wherein a weight percentage of the wood pulp fiber web in the wipe is 65 wt %-80 wt %.
 8. A manufacturing method for the wipe of claim 1, comprising steps of: (1) mixing wood pulp that has been opened and scattered by an opening roller with the hot-melt adhesive substance into a mixture, and blowing the mixture using a blowing nozzle in the presence of an auxiliary air stream to form the wood pulp fiber web containing the hot-melt adhesive substance; (2) performing a melt blowing process involving heating and melting a thermoplastic resin; dispersing melt streams of the thermoplastic resin that have been extruded from spinneret plates into fiber bundles having a diameter of ≤10 μm using a high-temperature, high-speed hot air stream, thereby forming the melt-blown fiber webs in the presence of the hot air stream; and joining the melt-blown fiber webs with two side surfaces of the wood pulp fiber web containing the hot-melt adhesive substance, so as to form a multi-layer fiber web having the melt-blown fiber webs at its two sides and having the wood pulp fiber web containing the hot-melt adhesive substance in its middle; and (3) binding the fiber webs in the multi-layer fiber web together using a heating device, so as to form the wipe having the upper and lower layers of the melt-blown fiber webs and having the intermediate layer of the wood pulp fiber web containing the hot-melt adhesive substance.
 9. The manufacturing method of claim 8, wherein the hot-melt adhesive substance is polyester fibers having a low-melting-point, ES short fibers, two-component spunbond long fibers or a blend thereof.
 10. The manufacturing method of claim 8, wherein the heating device is a hot air oven, a hot rolling roller or a combination thereof. 